


Kazoku Means Family

by TheWaywardSong



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Filler, Family Fluff, Fluff, Good feelings all around, The Katsukis are a wonderful family, Victor Nikiforov’s not so tragic backstory, Wedding Fluff, Yakov was a great father figure, the name game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 16:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14453109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWaywardSong/pseuds/TheWaywardSong
Summary: Katsuki Yuuri gets a clearer look at what he's always had. Viktor Nikiforov stumbles upon what he's always wanted.You can, it seems, choose your family.





	Kazoku Means Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chrome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrome/gifts).



> This work is dedicated to Chrome who inspired this fic with some interesting facts about name changes and family registers in Japan. Thank you for letting me run with it, for your amazing beta work on this, and for writing the summary! 
> 
> Another thank you to my comma controller, FromStarlightToDust who helps to whip every idea I have into what you all get to see. 
> 
> A last thank you to my readers who never cease to blow me away with your support. I love you all.

  
_**Family** _  
_fam·i·ly_  
_ˈfam(ə)lē/_  
_noun_  
_1\. a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household._

When Victor Nikiforov walked in to the onsen, press smile plastered on his face, sunglasses still on with Makkachin eagerly wagging her tail beside him, Katsuki Mari was surprised. Figure skating living legends didn’t just show up out of the blue to sleepy Japanese towns and if they did they certainly didn’t show up to her family’s onsen with enough luggage to fill a house.

Her face never betrayed her shock as she checked her brother’s lifelong crush into a room and gave him a pamphlet explaining the baths.

“Let me know if you need anything,” she offered with a lazy smile as she left the man and his dog to get settled in.

When she returned to the desk, she caught her parents spying down the hall to where Victor had disappeared.

“That man looked like the man in Yuuri’s posters,” Hiroko observed softly as she looked over her shoulder at her husband.

Toshiya nodded in agreement. “Is he one of Yuuri’s foreign skating friends?”

Mari smiled at her parents and leaned over the front desk. “Let’s not tell Yuuri just yet...I think it’ll be a nice surprise.”

Her parents exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement, leaving Yuuri to continue to snooze the morning away.

As Toshiya and Hiroko set to work tidying up the lobby while Mari manned the desk, Victor strode through in one of the onsen’s complimentary robes on his way to the baths. He flashed a smile to the Katsukis, more genuine than the glass one he wore for the press and waved as he walked by.

Hiroko and Toshiya smiled warmly back at him as they continued their work and shared a more secretive smile with one another as they heard Yuuri begin to stir in his room.

Hiroko went down the hallway to Yuuri’s door and called out to him, “Yuuri! Don’t hole up in your room!”

She could hear her son shuffle within his room, no doubt just getting out of bed for the day. When he didn’t respond, she called out again, “Help shovel snow!”

When Yuuri emerged from his room and wandered to the lobby with groggy eyes and hair still a mess from the night’s sleep, Toshiya was sweeping the lobby entryway. “Yuuri!” he greeted his son. “You’re finally awake!”

“Ah, yes, sorry,” Yuuri murmured, his brain still under the lingering haze of a full night’s sleep. He zipped up his coat and pulled on his boots before going out and getting to work. When he opened the door, he found himself face to face with a large brown poodle that looked vaguely familiar.

“Ah, Vicchan?” he muttered, surprised by the poodle who reminded him so much of the one he lost. The dog jumped up and knocked Yuuri to the ground, zealously attempting to lick the side of his face as Yuuri twisted away, “Nope!”

The dog finally gave up, resigning itself to gazing at Yuuri, as he was still pinned to the ground. The man was able to observe the dog more closely now. He’s much bigger than Vicchan...Could he be? No—it can’t be.

“Yuuri, isn’t he just like Vicchan?” Toshiya interrupted, pausing his sweeping as he watched his son interact with the dog. “He came with a really good-looking foreign guest, he’s in the hot springs right now!”

“Wh-what?” Yuuri sputtered. He pushed the dog off of himself and began sprinting down the hall towards the bath. Yuuri was gone before Toshiya could say another word, but the man watched his son run off with a soft smile.

—

While Victor stayed in Hasetsu, the Katsukis were given a front row seat to the train wreck that was the figure skating legend’s pursuit of Yuuri.

Hiroko noticed Victor up early every morning exercising and then preening so he looked photo op ready by the time her son rolled out of bed. She also watched the frustration that plagued the older skater’s face as her son remained oblivious to his flirtations.

Mari, from her post at the front desk, watched as Victor peppered Yuuri with questions. Clueless as ever, her brother blushed and could barely get out his replies.

Toshiya was folding towels in the lobby, but could see down the hallway when Yuuri slammed the door in the Victor’s face and later went scrambling from his room. When he went to put the towels away he noticed the missing posters that he now knew were of their handsome Russian guest.

Ever so slowly, however, the Katsukis were able to watch as their Yuuri began to open up and let Victor in.

Hiroko was walking down the hall when she heard hushed voices from Victor’s room, one of which belonged to her son. She recognized his giggle, and though she didn’t spy, she managed to catch a glimpse of the pair seated together with Victor’s hands in Yuuri’s hair.

She smiled and continued on her way, noting the peaceful look on her son’s face, one she hadn’t seen since before his return home.

Toshiya was returning from the week’s grocery trip when he spotted the pair, hand in hand, walking along the beach with Makkachin running ahead. He spotted the genuine smiles on their faces and thought to himself how nice it was to see his son smile like that again.

Mari had been on her way to the porch one night to take a drag of a cigarette, but chose to wait when she saw Victor and Yuuri leaning on each other as they pointed out constellations in the sky. She wouldn’t tell a soul that she was still watching when her little brother caught the lips of his idol in a comfortable kiss, a kiss that was definitely one of many.

The Katsukis knew of Victor and Yuuri’s feelings for each other maybe before either of the pair did. They watched Victor’s smile change from the playboy press smile, the glass facade he fed the masses, to a heart-shaped one that was full of warmth and lit up the room.

They watched as Yuuri went from running away from Victor, to seeking him out. They noticed when the boys sat close to each other at dinner to share whispered secrets, or fell asleep on top of one another with the TV still on, exhausted from the day’s practice.

When the time came for the boys to travel for the first competition, the Katsukis sent them off with a small party. Hiroko made Katsudon and Minako brought several handles of liquor from her bar, including a special Russian vodka that Victor had personally recommended.

Victor learned that Yuuri drank like his father, as Toshiya slung his arm around the man’s shoulders (quite a feat given the difference in their height) and beckoned him closer. Victor obliged, given that this was the father of the man he was head over heels for, leaning down so Toshiya could whisper in his ear.

“Thank you for bringing my Yuuri’s smile back,” Toshiya told him. A pink flush spread from the tip of Victor’s ears through his cheeks. Yuuri’s father patted the blush and grinned, “You’ll take good care of him, won’t you?”

The man asked it as a question, but it came out like a faithful affirmation. He had watched the pair long enough to know that Victor would care for his son, and he had no doubts that Yuuri would look out for Victor in return.

Watching his son interact with his coach over the past few months reminded Toshiya of his own courtship with Hiroko. He recalled the days spent on the beach walking alongside the water and the meals they shared late into the night after the guests had gone to bed, back in the onsen’s early days.

His wife came over to him and set her hand on his shoulder. The couple watched as Yuuri pulled Victor into a dance, right in the center of the room. Both men had genuine smiles that lit up their faces and eyes that conveyed nothing but pure love and affection as they waltzed through the living room.

Following suit, Toshiya offered his hand to his wife and spun her into a matching dance when she accepted his silent offer.

—

  
  


Victor met Mari at the train station the night he flew into Japan from Russia, leaving Yuuri alone at the Rostelecom Cup. The man was a wreck, his skin was pale and the bags under his eyes confirmed her suspicion that he hadn’t slept. It was a complete world of difference from the living legend who had shown up to the onsen months prior, with hair perfectly styled and outfit neatly pressed.

“How is—?”

Mari cut him off, “We can talk in the car.”

Victor filed into the car and remained silent for the duration of the car ride, his head resting on the window. As she drove, Mari couldn’t help but to glance over at him. It was the first time she had seen Victor without even so much as a ghost of a smile on his face. He looked as if all the life had been sucked out of him.

“He’s going to make it,” Mari informed him, her voice barely above a whisper. “We can pick him up in the morning, they want to keep him overnight for observation.”

“I’d—I’d like to go there if you could drop me off,” Victor requested. He peeled himself from the window and looked to Mari, his eyes pleading.

She nodded. She knew he needed to sleep, but didn’t think it would be worth the argument and she had seen Victor’s stubbornness firsthand during his first stay at the onsen.

She dropped Victor at the vet’s office, and returned the following morning to pick up the man and the recuperating poodle. After getting Makkachin settled in, Victor slid into the passenger seat. Despite that it was apparent he had still gotten no sleep, there was some color in his cheeks and a genuine smile on his face.

“Thank you,” Victor said softly as they began to drive toward the hot springs.

Mari said nothing, but gave him a smile, her soft eyes reminding Victor so much of Yuuri that he felt a pang in his chest. Now that Makkachin was safe, his heart hurt for Yuuri, who was in another country about to take the ice.

Victor returned to the onsen and was enveloped in a warm, maternal hug from Hiroko. “Get some rest,” she advised him, guiding the man to his room. It was quite a sight, Yuuri’s petite mother guiding Russia’s living legend to his bed, the latter nearly folded in half to lean on her shoulder.

Victor slept nearly the entire day, only emerging from his room after the guests had cleared from the restaurant and the Katsukis were sitting down to their own dinner. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep so long,” he apologized after wandering into the room.

Hiroko waved away his apologies, “Nonsense, sit down and eat with us.”

Victor obliged without hesitation, dropping down on the floor beside Toshiya as Mari set down a bowl in front of him. They fell into easy conversation. While typically Yuuri helped to break the language barrier, the Katsukis worked in hospitality and knew enough English that the dinner was not spent in silence.

Until Yuuri returned, Victor was part of the family. He assisted Toshiya with the chores, helped Mari get guests settled in and, after an evening walk with Makkachin, he ventured to the kitchen to help Hiroko prepare their supper.

“I’d like to learn to make Katsudon,” he told her, as he was chopping onions and trying to hold back the inevitable tears. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’d like to try, for Yuuri.”

Hiroko patted Victor’s hand and promised to teach him. She couldn’t help the warm smile that spread to her face, she was so pleased that Yuuri had found someone so willing to care for him.

The Katsukis had already decided they liked Victor, but the days spent alone with him before Yuuri’s return, that was when he became family.

—

Yuuri and Victor returned from their last competition in the middle of May. Yuuri hadn’t taken the gold at the Grand Prix but the couple decided they couldn’t wait any longer to get married. They had managed to hold out through the end of the season and when Yuuri was earned his spot at the top of the Worlds podium, they knew it was time.

“We want to get married at the end of June, here at the onsen,” Yuuri told his parents. The entire family, the Nishigoris, and Minako all sat at the table sharing a meal to welcome the skaters back home when Yuuri shared their plan.

The family had been elated to hear about their engagement, having already come to think of Victor as part of the family. Not one person at the table could deny that there was no one else for Yuuri than the rather eccentric Russian who sat beside him, their hands clasped together on the table as they made wedding plans.

“Yuuri, that’s so soon!” Yuuko cried. “How will we get everything done?”

Victor waved his hand, “I’ve enlisted some help. Since it’s the off season for skating, and we would like our friends to be present for the wedding in the first place, we’ve invited a large group to come stay. I’ll pay for their rooms, and they will help us get everything accomplished.”

Yuuri smiled at his fiancé and Victor gently leaned down to kiss his forehead. Hiroko and Toshiya stole a quick glance at each other, one that communicated something unspoken and smiled back at the soon-to-be newlyweds.

After supper, Victor was sufficiently distracted by Mari as the two worked on the logistics of fitting a dozen or so figure skaters into the family’s onsen, without disrupting the current guests. Yuuri’s parents took the opportunity to pull their son aside. They went to the kitchen under the ruse of needing help cleaning up.

“Yuuri, have you given any thought to your names?” Hiroko asked, beginning to fill the sink with water for the dishes.

“My name?”

“Yours and Vicchan’s,” his mother clarified.

“Oh, well I suppose we might keep our own...there was talk of hyphenating but I’m not sure how that would work and I—”

Sensing that his son was beginning to babble, Toshiya cut in as he began to scrub the dinner bowls. “Your mother and I had a thought. We would like to offer to adopt Victor into the family. ”

“I—I don’t know if...well, I can ask,” Yuuri finally conceded. His parents’ offer caught him off guard and he stumbled a bit to collect his thoughts while his mother handed him a pan to dry off.

“I’ve never really talked to Victor about his family, they haven’t been in the picture for a while. I don’t know if he would want to give up his last name, since it’s the only thing he has of them.”

Yuuri tried to explain the best he could but his future husband’s family wasn’t a topic that came up often. They had discussed it once, after a video chat with Yuuri’s family.

“Victor, do you ever see your family?” Yuuri had asked timidly, he had never heard his boyfriend mention parents or siblings, and hadn’t had the confidence to start the conversation. That particular evening, however, took place after a skating gala and though Yuuri hadn’t indulged like the legendary banquet that set off the year’s chain of events, he had a comfortable buzz that gave him the push he needed.

“Oh,” Victor’s eyebrows raised as he had looked over to Yuuri’s inquisitive gaze. “Ah, no. They—my parents, they haven’t been in the picture a while now. In Russia, when a child shows that they’re particularly talented at something, their parents might choose to sign over guardianship to a coach or an athletic director so their child is able to fully dedicate themselves to the sport.”

“Is that what happened to you?” Yuuri responded quietly. His own childhood memories fluttered to mind. He recalled his walks to the beach with Mari, his father proudly cheering him on as he watched his first ballet lessons, and his mother teaching him to cook when he was too small to even reach the stove. He had felt a sharp pang of sympathy that Victor hadn’t had the same childhood.

“Yakov has been like a father to me since I could remember. I met my parents a few times thereafter, but I think they had another child and spent their time caring for him.” Victor didn’t look as sorrowful as Yuuri would have expected and he went on to share some of his childhood memories with Yakov. Though Yuuri wouldn’t have expected Yakov to be the most nurturing caregiver, given his gruff exterior, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Victor’s coach had tried his best to give Victor a semblance of a normal childhood.

True, the boy still skated from the time he could stand, and instead of school Victor had practice all day long with intermittent breaks to study with a tutor, but he had also gone to festivals and won a goldfish that he creatively named Goldie. He had other skaters over for weekend slumber parties and tried to learn to cook though neither he nor his coach had a knack for it.

“Well,” Hiroko replied, cutting through Yuuri’s thoughts, “If he would be interested, we’ve already acquired the paperwork. We’ll let you talk with him, just know we are excited for Victor to join the family no matter what he chooses.”

Yuuri waited until the following evening to address the topic with his fiancé. After dinner they had curled up together in Yuuri’s bed. Now that they were engaged they decided to not waste the additional room for Victor and talked excitedly about wedding plans.

“Chris will be arriving Monday, along with all of the Russian team except Georgi—he’s holding out to see if his newest love interest will pan out to bring to the wedding,” Victor listed off the names of their wedding party in the order they would be arriving, counting on his fingers and chewing his lip as he did so.

“I’m so happy Yuuri, in less than a month we’ll be exchanging vows in front of all our family and friends,” Victor admitted, stealing a kiss from his fiancé. He brought his hand beneath Yuuri’s chin, delicately cradling it as he kissed his nose. “And then you’ll be mine forever and I’ll be yours. Victor and Yuuri, Nikiforov and Katsuki, together forever.”

“That sounds like something I would have written in my school books when I was in juniors,” Yuuri laughed. He obliged his fiancé with another kiss and as he pulled away he cleared his throat, figuring it was the time to bring up his parents’ offer.

“Speaking of family, my parents asked me something last night and I want to discuss it with you…” Yuuri began. He sat up in the bed and fiddled with a loose blanket thread as he addressed his husband. “They’d like to adopt you into the family officially, you’d legally be a Katsuki, have your name changed, and you’d be included on our family’s register. If you wanted, of course!”

Yuuri’s words came out quickly, in almost a single breath, and after he looked at Victor awaiting his reaction.

At first Victor said nothing. He sat up, curling his legs under him as he stared down at the blanket.

Unable to see the man’s facial expression, Yuuri assumes the worst and began to apologize, “I’m sorry, I can tell them no, they said they’re still happy to welcome you to the family either way and we can just each keep our own names or—”

Victor cut his husband-to-be off with a kiss, a forceful kiss that stunned Yuuri enough to remain silent when it was finished.

“ _Solnyshko_ , I would want nothing more than to take your name and become part of your family. It’s like you’re proposing to me all over again,” His bright blue eyes were wet with tears, as he kissed his fiancé repeatedly. The two fell back on the bed as their kisses turned to gentle touches, and continued to progress from there.

Victor would finally have a family and a husband, two things he never thought would be in the cards for “Victor Nikiforov, _Russia’s Living Legend_.” In a few short weeks he would be Victor Katsuki, husband to the man responsible for teaching him a type of love he never knew and member of the family that had never failed to pull him in.

—

Victor and Yuuri elected to walk down the aisle together, each dressed in their wedding clothes—crisp white suits with pastel colors for their ties and boutonnieres, Victor’s in violet and Yuuri’s in blue. The triplets walked in front of them, scattering lillies down the aisle, which caught in the wind and blew upwards before raining down on the grooms.

They stood at the altar that they built together, made from gathered driftwood and decorated with white, blue and violet roses. Everything had come together quickly over the course of the last three weeks, thanks to their family and friends who were now gathered to watch the couple promise themselves to each other.

Vows and rings exchanged, the two shared their first kiss as a married couple. Yuuri pulled Victor down by his tie and dipped him like he had during their first dance together at the banquet, one he might not remember but had certainly heard plenty about.

Victor was elated, and the two continued to kiss once upright, as their officiant proclaimed them, “Mr. and Mr. Katsuki.”

The paperwork had been expedited and finalized just that week, so Victor was officially adopted into the family. While he hadn’t completed the name change on all his documentation from Russia, he was proud to carry his husband’s name and to be a part of the family that welcomed him in from the moment he had stepped through the door.

How different their lives might have been over the course of the past year, had Mari not welcomed Victor into the onsen and rented him a room across from her brother’s. Had Toshiya and Hiroko not cared for him when he was worried about Makkachin’s recovery.

How different the Katsukis’ lives might have been if the skater hadn’t flown across an ocean to fall in love with their Yuuri. Had he not picked up the man when he was broken and helped to put him back together to be the Yuuri they remembered.

How different would it have been if Yuuri had never danced with Victor at the banquet that night, or never dared to show Yuuko the program he had learned out of a love he didn’t know he had.

The reception would go down in history as one of the greatest parties ever thrown, with the fateful Grand Prix banquet holding a close second. Champagne began to flow from the moment Victor stepped through the door, carrying his husband bridal style as Yuuri peppered his face with kisses.

While everyone came by the head table to share congratulations at some point or another, Toshiya, Hiroko, and Mari came to the couple toward the end of the night.

Hiroko patted Yuuri’s cheek, and took the hand of her newly adopted son. “You are _kazoku_ now, Vicchan. Just as you were always meant to be.”

Yuuri blushed at his mother’s words. Behind her, his father and sister echoed the sentiment.

“ _Kazoku_ means family,” Mari explained. Though Victor’s face shone at her mother’s words, she could see the bit of confusion in his eyes.

“ _Kazoku_ means family,” he repeated. Victor stood and took the entire Katsuki clan into a strong embrace. They were a family, a _kazoku_ , something Victor had in many forms over his life. He had parents who brought him into the world and set him on the path that brought him to his future. He had a father figure in Yakov, who taught Victor to be the man his husband fell in love with. He had brothers and sisters along the way, the Russian skaters who would tease him and make sure his ego never got the best of him.

Now he had a family with the Katsukis, his _kazoku_ , and he knew he was exactly where he was always meant to be.

__**Family**  
fam·i·ly  
ˈfam(ə)lē/  
noun  
2\. A group of people who genuinely love, trust, care about, and look out for each other. To have a family is to have a bond that cannot be broken by any means.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic, be sure to come find me on Tumblr (TheWaywardSong) where I post way too much Victuuri and the art for all my fics!
> 
> My amazing betas/inspirations can be found as well: FromStarlightToDust and Catalists, so make sure to give them some love!
> 
> Now for some notes:
> 
> _Kazoku_ —Japanese word for family  
>  _Solnyshko_ —Russian diminutive meaning sun
> 
> *I’m going to try to explain this the best I can, but essentially in Japan each family has an official register and when you are born you are added to your family’s register. When a man gets married, he is given his own family register that his wife is then added to. Since hyphenated names are not possible in Japanese, one person will have drop their last name to take their spouse’s. On occasion, instead of having the husband start a new register, the wife’s family will adopt him, adding him to their register. This is the adoption mentioned in the fic, which inspired this exploration of Victor’s relationship with the Katsukis. Again, an ENORMOUS thank you to Chrome who was the one to educate me on this cultural aspect that inspired this fic.
> 
> *Chrome is actually a wealth of knowledge, and helped to select the wedding flower: lilies, which are associated with beauty and purity in Japan. Additionally, the Japanese word for a lily is “yuri.”


End file.
